WockhardtHospitals Nagpur a leader in health care sector is always ready to fight for the comman man’s well being is creating awareness about hand Hygiene on World Hand Hygiene Day among common people. Now is a critical time when countries across the world need to accelerate implementation of lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and increase investments to close gaps in infection prevention and control (IPC), including hand hygiene.
DR. Rupesh Bokade , MBBS,DNB (Emergency Medicine ), IDCCM, MRCEM(UK) , Consultant Critical Care And Head Of Emergency Medicine Department gave an important information on Hand Hygiene that everybody should know and follow:
1. Germs in your hands can survive up to three hours and some of them even longer.
2. Our fingertips will have more than two million bacterias and other microorganisms.
3. A germ can reproduce so fast that it can double its population in a few minutes.
4. Around 80% of disease-causing germs are transmitted through our hands.
5. Our hands spread 1,000 times more germs when they are damp.
Hand washing with soap is a very effective and the least expensive way to prevent diarrhea and acute respiratory infections ,Pneumonia, a major ARI (acute respiratory infection), is the number one cause of mortality among children under five years old, killing an estimated 1.8 million children per year. Diarrhea and pneumonia together account for almost 3.5 million child deaths annually. Hand washing with soap is estimated to reduce cases of diarrhea by 30% and respiratory infections by 21% in children under the age of five.
Dr Rupesh Bokade also highlighted that getting into the habit of hand washing with soap before meals and after using the toilet will save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter.
The 2023 campaign key message is to wash hands with soap and running water, or alcohol-based hand sanitizer where running water and soap are not readily available.
WHO :THEME OF HAND HYGIENE 2023 – ‘Accelerate action together”.
Together we can accelerate action to prevent infection and anti microbial resistance in health care and build a culture of safety and quality in which hand hygiene improvement is given high priority.
According to WHO Guidelines,
1) Hand wash has 11 steps which takes 40 – 60 sec for completion.
2) Hand rub has 8 steps with 20 – 30 sec time taken.
Need a timer? Hum ‘Happy birthday’ song from beginning to the end.
Hand washing habits should be acquired by everybody are :-
•After visiting the toilet;
•After touching rubbish;
•After touching frequently touched surfaces, such as door handles; and
•Before and after you eat;
Hand washing is key to reducing the burden of many diseases, which pose chronic challenges to health and development. Hand washing plays a key role in the control of infectious- disease outbreaks. Hand washing is also important to achieve benefits beyond disease reduction, such as increased school attendance and enhanced dignity. Advocates should raise awareness on the importance of hand hygiene as an essential part of health and wellbeing.
Dr Bokade said , “ Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) are among the most frequent adverse events occurring in health service delivery. These infections, many of which are caused by multidrug-resistant organisms, harm patients, visitors and health workers and place a significant burden on health systems.”
Follow the below mentioned tips to avoid infection
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• If you feel a cough or sneeze is coming on, make sure to cough or sneeze into a tissue and then throw it away and wash your hands.
• If you do not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow. It’s a part of your body less likely to touch other surfaces and will help stop the spread of nasty germs.
Wockhardt Hospitals Nagpur initiative on ‘WORLD HAND HYGIENE DAY’
LIFE IS BETTER WITH CLEAN HANDS
Few activities which was conducted to inculcate theculture of Infection Control in Wockhardt Hospital were.
Poster competitions from every category of associates.
Quiz Competition to re-emphasize on basics of HH.
Hand glow gel activity for all associates and relatives for awareness and importance on HAND HYGIENE.
Slogan writing on hand cut out prints by Consultants.
Hand hygiene awareness talk by IC team and consultants followed by hand hygiene dance for general OPD public .
At the end Hand Hygiene Pledge was taken.
About Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd.:
Wockhardt Hospitals is a chain of tertiary care super-specialty hospitals with facilities in Nagpur, Rajkot, South Mumbai & North Mumbai. All WockhardtHospitals have state-of-the-art infrastructure and globally benchmarked processes to enable Patient Care & Safety. Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd. is a tertiary care hospital and one of the few professionally managed corporate hospital groups in the country which prioritizes patient safety and quality of care at the core of its strategy. The guiding philosophy is to serve and enrich the Quality of Life of patients.
Wockhardt Hospitals Nagpur has always worked with the spirit of giving back to the society in its chosen field of medical treatment. And keeping its vision firmly in mind, strives with excellence to meet the needs of the community. Wockhardt Hospitals Nagpur’s mission is to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from diseases and to serve them in a caring and nurturing environment with the help of innovative technologyand human expertise, and to respect human life and its dignity.
The entire team of Wockhardt Hospitals strives with integrity to achieve this.At Wockhardt Hospitals Life Wins and this is what Wockhardt Hospitals is all about.